today the students of sandy hook elementary return to the classroom for the first time since a gunman killed 26 of their classmates and teachers. bipartisan fury over speaker boehner delaying a vote for hurricane sandy victims. hillary clinton out of the hospital. al gore profits f al jazeera. and theses guys were just hoping to score some cash the old-fashioned way by stealing it. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for thursday, january 3rd, 2013. good morning, i'm mara schiavocampo. it's sure to be an emotionally charged back-to-school morning today for the students who

survived is that horrific shooting in sandy hook elementary in newtown, connecticut. it will be their first time back to class since the massacre three weeks ago claimed 26 lives. jay gray is live in monroe, krlt ", where the students will be attending a different school. jay, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mara. school seven mile in monroe. it was an empty middle school that crews for the last few weeks have been working to refurbish, just one of many changes here since the tragedy. a fresh blanket of snow covers the spot where a mountains of stuffed animals candles and flowers once stood. a sign was pulled from its hinges but this morning will will be school again. >> i'm not sure how we're going to react to it. it's going to be hard. >> reporter: most is going to be difficult for for a event that

killed 26. in a town seven miles away, survivors will be here again. >> they want to get back into their routine. >> reporter: furniture and book bags but back in the same exact places when the students rushed out. the student outside has been changed. >> if we can do something to bring some type of normalcy or normal living environment for these teacher that teach in it, we're happy to do it. >> reporter: still, most in the struggling community understand. little will be normal. >> we've actually installed numerous different security devices at this school. we're going to remain in our presence on location until further notice. >> reporter: counselors will as be in place as teachers, students and family all try to find a balance between what's been lost and how to try and move on. and today, it's expected to be a big part of that process. now, it could get a bit crowded in nut school.

parents will be allowed to stay with their kids as long as necessary so they can help each other with the transition back to class here. live in monroe, i'm jay gray, mara, back to you. >> thank you, jay, an emotional day to be sure. in aurora, colorado, families of the movie shooting victims say they're, quote, disgusted for the movie theater to be reopened. cinemark plans to show a movie in the theater. in a letter, eight of the victims' families say plans to go back to business as usual are repawling and that returning to the theater would be like entering a slaughterhouse. >> none of us are interested in ever stepping foot in that theater, that killing field, ever again. and to assume that we would warm to that idea is really astonishing to me. >> the families say they're organizing a boycott of the event. city officials say a community

survey showed support for reopening the theater. secretary of state hillary clinton is out of the hospital after several days of treatment for a blood clot in a vein near her brain. clinton left the hospital with bill and chelsea by her side. she was admitted during follow-up care for a concussion after fainting. clinton will be need to be closely monitored in the coming days and weeks to make sure that the blood clot is growing. today, the 113th congress will be sworn in to start its two year term. the house will vote to see some john boehner will remain its speaker. tracie potts is live in washington. tracie, will this new congress be able to get up to speed quickly? >> reporter: well, they don't really have a choice, mara, because they have so much on their plate as you mentioned including the debt ceiling and the deficit. 113th congress takes its oath this afternoon with 56 new

democrats, 38 new republicans and a record number of women. the youngest, hawaii yaes kelsey gabbert, a 31-year-old iraq war vet and the first hindu ever elected. john boehner is expected to be relegislated speaker today but 17 conservatives could derail that. he's already announced the first order of business a vote friday to provide billions to victims of superstorm sandy. >> the bottom line is between friday morning and january 15th, those two votes will bring in $60 billion that's absolutely necessary for new york, new jersey and connecticut. >> reporter: also tops on their agenda, raising the debt ceiling so america can borrow more to pay its bills. republicans will imsift on cutting spending first. >> the president is addicted to spending. he wants to spend. he wants a new credit card after he's maxed out the last one. >> president thinks he's not going to negotiate. he better think again. he's president of the united states.

>> reporter: the last time congress got over the debt ceiling the u.s. saw its first credit downgrade. >> it may take a default. another downgrade. the serious economic consequences that flow from it to jolt us back to some kind of reality. >> reporter: a new congress with old issues, still undecided. and on a short deadline, too, because it looks like we could hit that debt ceiling in just a few weeks, mara. >> all right, tracie potts, thanks for that. for a look at the weather here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, happy new year. >> happy new year to you. did you enjoy some minor time off. >> a little bit. i got to sleep in one day. good morning, everyone, it's a very cold weather pattern across the nation, there's no big storms to talk about. and a little light rain to deal with down there in louisiana. portions of southern mississippi and definitely the southern half of alabama but that's really about it. temperatures are more or less the story. the big question is, is this the coldest week of winter?

who knows how it's going to play out but it's been really cold especially in the northern plains and a cold blast up in new england. but the weather pattern is going to change dramatically as we go into next week. right now, temperatures are in the teens, actually not that bad for what is minneapolis and chicago. boston at 8, northern new england very cold. this is tracking the arctic air. the blue is the cold air. another chunk heads to new england by next week, middle of next week, there's really no cold air in the lower 48s. amazing. that's a quick look at your national forecast. how, let's take a look outside your window. >> so, today, with the exception of being down there along the gulf coast, especially southern alabama, panhandle of florida, it looks like a dry day everywhere. could have snow showers in the cold air of the great lakes, but overall, you're at beautiful weather. >> that is beautiful weather for

traveling. >> good news after some bad news the last few weeks. >> around christmas, at least people are getting home. >> that's a good way to start the new year. thanks so much, bill. well, a pair of u.s. drone strikes killed a taliban commander today. stocks soar but issues are a warning. and thieves try to steal atm machines all caught on tape. plus iowa's "field of dreams" from the kevin costner classic has been sold. you're watching "early today."

welcome back, here are some stories making news this morning. in northern pakistan today, u.s. drone missile strike reportedly hit a house near the afghan border killing a taliban commander and eight others. speaking of drone attacks, a new york judge rejected a request by the american civil liberties union to obtain the obama administration legal justification for such strikes for suspected terrorists overseas. the united nations said the death toll for the war is now

more than exiting,000, that's even higher than estimates made by rebel groups during the syrian army. interesting in buying a civil launchpad. nasa is selling space in the building first used to put together rockets in the apollo program. and for a first time, scientists discovering a new-formed star have found details forming around it. giant gas in the disk of materials surrounding the star using gravity surrounding the gap helping the star to grow. well, the first day of trading for 2013 had stocks on a tear following the fiscal cliff deals on capitol hill. the dow opens at 13,000412 after surging 308 points yesterday. the s&p shot up 36. and the nasdaq leaped 92. over assess, the nikkei was closed for holiday, but the hang

seng rose 86. moody's investor services warned that a viable plan to shrink our deficit in the next few months, the government's credit rating could be at risk. al jazeera could be coming to a tv near you. al gore plans to use existing distribution to broadcast. one interesting note, as soon as the deal was announced time warner cable said they would drop the channel from their 12 million subscribers. developing a new business plan. the company will be opening several retail shops called photo bars where people can come in the store to download pictures. if you build it, they will buy it, the famous iowa baseball diamond from the iconic movie "field of dreams" has been sold for $3.4 million. the new owners plan to transform the land mark into 24 youth

baseball fields. water levels have dropped ten feet in the last six months along america's shipping superhighway. if parts of the mississippi river don't rise soon, shipping could come to a halt along with 8,000 jobs for the month of january alone. mighty mishandles cargo. a tip can tow boat loads about 15 loads of barges. 16 locomotives or 1,000 tractor trailer with the same amount of goods. that's how important this river is. one of the nfl most dominant and fierce of the player is calling it quits. a dolphin that picks college football winners. and cowboys and redskins produce ratings gold. plus, not one but two different sets of thieves try to steal atm machines. details as we go across america. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. here's a look at some other stories making news across america. in texas, surveillance video captured a brazen atm smash and grab. you can see a pickup truck plowing into the building before the thieves made off with the machine packed with $4,000 cash. even worse, the damage to the store is estimated to be between $10,000 and $20,000. no arrests have been made. it was a similar scene in tennessee when a van backed through the front door of a market. security cameras captured two

men jump ought and loading the atm into the van. authorities later recovered that stolen vehicle minus the atm machine. the two men are still at large. police in georgia have released security video of a school board official intentionally running down a 15-year-old girl in a walmart parking lot just to get a spot. authorities say the teen was trying to save the space for a teen when she got hit. forngtly, she was not injured. the 41 driver was champed with reckless conduct. finally in washington state, we're getting an aerial view of tons of japanese tsunami debris that washed up last month. among it, an entire dock with japanese writing on it. there's no word when it will be removed. another dock washed up in oregon earlier this year. in sports, bigup set in college football. number 21 louisville returned an interception on the first play and scored four more times as they knocked off third ranked florida 33-23. tonight, it's the fiesta bowl in

glendale, arizona with fourth ranked oregon facing number five kansas state. and a dolphin named flipper who correctly predicted florida state's win is predicting a winner in the national championship game monday. flipper says notre dame will beat alabama. in college basketball, number 7 syracuse rolled over rutgers 78-53. coach jim behar of the orange passed bob knight for second lace on the all-time win list trailing on coach krzyzewski. ray lewis says he will retire after the season. and the regular season prime time nfl broadcast in the washington, d.c. market since 1987, and nationally the highest after on nbc. and redskins coach mike shanahan was interrupted during a news conference by quarterback robert

griffin iii who asked his coach a question. >> what did you do for new year's? >> tried to put a good game plan together. i wasn't sure how healthy you were. so it was hard without you calling me. you got me good. >> and by the way, the redskins won. they moved on to the playoffsle. the cowboys go home. just ahead "hunger games" actress lawrence the truths about acting. and millions of views, we'll explain why next on this thursday morning on "early today."

we are looking at winter weather conditions developing in all areas of west texas over the

next 24 to 36 hours. winter storm warnings for el paso here, down along the river. also midland and san angelo have winter weather advisories. that's more for later today into tonight. edge where else, though, we're looking at pretty decent weather. clouds and showers continue along the gulf coast from mobile to pensacola. and chilly air through the great lakes. one of the coldest mornings we've seen in a long time from boston to new england. as we go into tomorrow, that's when we start to turn the corner. we'll be able to warm it up in the midwest. by the end of next week, this cold snap is all over. hunger games star jennifer lawrence doesn't think too highly of her profession in an interview with "vanity fair," the actress said quote, not to sound rude but acting is stupid. kwoshgts i'm making movies, it's stupsd.

speaking of stupid, sales of kim kardashian's sex tape have spiked 80% since her pregnancy an mouns. the recent spike is the biggest in sales since she married kris humphries. pop and country singer patti page died on new year's day at the age of 85. page sold more than 100 million albums over her career. including "how much is that dog in the window?" and" tennessee waltz". news has dumb out that simon cowell is not happy with britney spears who wanders around aimlessly and acts like she's in her own world. >> and we're surprised with this? >> simon promised a lot on that and hasn't lived up. >> maybe he needs his paula. he needs to find his counterpart. >> i don't know. been there, done that. this next one comes from to

us from wabc news in for the myers, florida. one chick may its debut. an eagle nest racked up more than 1 million viewers who followed ozzie and harriet. last month, harriet laid two eggs and harriet was found feeding her baby eaglet. that is touch warming to me. anything involving baby animals. >> have you ever put up the small pop-up window on your desk and watched the baby eagles. >> and i've done. with puppies. it's very calming. just watch them play. >> i'll try it. >> i'm mara schiavocampo. this is "early today." just for first stop of the day on your nbc station. oh!

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straight ahead, an emotional day ahead for the community of newtown as the kids of sandy hook elementary school head back to class. a traffic alert you need to know it. the major roadway you'll find blocked off after a water main bursts. good morning, everyone, i'm aaron gilchrest. >> i'm eun yang. welcome to "news4 today" this thursday, january 3, 2013. in adams-morgan, police are trying to identify a body found on biltmore street. a man has been missing since new year's eve. megan mcgrath with more. >> reporter: the discovery was made last night. the body found at the bottom of

a light shaft at an apartment in biltmore streets in adams-morgan. there's a rooftop patio at the top of this building. we're told by neighbors there were people up there celebrating on new year's eve. police were on the scene until about 2:30 this morning collecting evidence and piecing together exactly what happened. of course, also trying to identify the body that was found at the bottom of that shaft. one of the things they're looking into is the possibility that it's 23-year-old michael poe of poolesville. he's been missing since new year's eve. his family and friends canvassed adams-morgan yesterday posting flyers and looking for information on his whereabouts. poe was celebrating new year's eve in adams-morgan with a group of about 20 friends. he left shenanigans bar at 12:30. that's when he parted ways with his friends. he did make a cell phone call at 2:30 in the morning. but that is the last time that anyone heard from him. again, police were here on the sc